Monday, March 21, 2011

Moïsi on Libya

The Sarkozy factor is fundamental. The French president loves crises, with their concomitant surge of adrenaline. For him, this is what power is about: taking hard decisions under unfavorable circumstances.
Of course, domestic considerations are not absent from Sarkozy’s thinking. In 2007, when he played a key role in the liberation of Bulgarian nurses imprisoned by Qaddafi, Libya’s leader was rewarded with what looked like a legitimacy prize: an official visit to Paris. He was no longer a pariah, but an eccentric partner.
Today, by contrast, it all looks as if intervention may re-legitimate Sarkozy in the eyes of French citizens, whose votes he will need in next year’s presidential election. An energetic and daring gambler, Sarkozy is taking a high but legitimate risk that he can retake the moral (and political) high ground.
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France has a common history and geography with the countries on the southern Mediterranean shore. The duty to intervene – and the cost of indifference – is probably higher for France than for any other Western country.
Indeed, France has a very large immigrant population that originated in the Maghreb, and for which the “Arab spring” is vitally important and a source of fascination and pride. And today, with France taking the lead in an international effort to protect the Libyan people from their leader, they can feel simultaneously proud of being French and of their Arab roots. These positive identities constitute the best protection against the sirens of fundamentalist Islam.
Of course, an ideal scenario implies that the intervention “goes well,” and that it does not incite confusion or chaos in Libya or the wider region. France, together with Great Britain, and with the more distant support of the US, is undeniably risking much, for it is easier to start a war than it is to end one. But it is a worthwhile risk. The cost of non-intervention, of allowing Qaddafi to crush his own people, and of thus signaling to the world’s despots that a campaign of domestic terror is acceptable, is far more menacing.
Sarkozy has chosen the right course. In fact, he has chosen the only possible way forward.

3 comments:

Cincinna
said...

For the record, I am opposed to American military intervention in Libya on Constitutional grounds. The Executive does not have the power to commit American forces without a Congressional resolution . There is no dangerto American National Security. It is a violation of the Constitution. Many on the Left, including Ralph Nader & Dennis Kucinich are calling for Obama's impeachment for violation of the US Constitution.

Has anyone stopped to ask just who these 'Rebels' are? Who is supporting them? Who benefits from getting rid of Khadafi? More and more evidence shows that these “rebels”, the strongest opposition group in Libya, are ISLAMISTS & are connected to al-QAIDA.

Aaron Klein documents it in this article. 'Rebels are linked to al-Qaida'

there you go again. Please, be carfeul with your assumptions (and your sources). In the article you have linked, the connection between the rebel and Al-Qaeda is supported by... "Libya's official news agency". Hardly trustworthy.

Aaron Klein is a totally respectable reporter with impeccable sources. He is not alone in reporting ties of these populist uprisings to Islamist movements wishing to overthrow secular rule & establish Sharia Law. One of his sources, among many cited in this article, if you had read it all the way through, is a high ranking official of the Palestinian Authority. Aaron Klein routinely interviews the heads of these Muslim organizations like Hamas & the PA live on his radio show. All evidence points to the MB in Libya.

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I have been a student and observer of French politics since 1968. In that time I've translated more than 130 books from the French, including Tocqueville's Democracy in America and Thomas Piketty's Capital in the 21st Century. I chair the seminar for visiting scholars at Harvard's Center for European Studies and am a member of the editorial board of French Politics, Culture, and Society and of The Tocqueville Review/La revue Tocqueville. You can read some of my writing on French politics and history here and a short bio here. From time to time I will include posts by other students of France and French politics (accessible via the index link "guest"). My hope is that this site will become a gathering place for all who are interested in discussing and analyzing political life in France. You can keep track of posts on Twitter by following "artgoldhammer".